Guitars Of The Week:
The Week of February, 17 2003 through February, 24 2003

Hollow Drop Top Classic
Maple Top on Alder
Arctic Blue with Binding

A brand new color for Anderson Guitars and with what these pictures have to say, I don’t think another word needs to be spoken. But since when has that ever stopped us?

Under a full moon and with its shadowy light reflecting off the snowy landscape, we summitted the highest peak in the region to watch the dance of the Aurora Borealis. Tom likes to bring us all here at least once a year to study the way nature demonstrates its subtle and dramatic variations of color. He believes it improves the way we express ourselves with paint.

Well insulated from the biting cold, we stood in awe. It was Chuck who first broke the stillness. “This is so beautiful,” he announced. “Oh yea,” Dave replied with a sigh of contentment. There was another pause as we all absorbed the majesty of the moment. “Europa,” Roy said almost as though he was thinking out loud. “It reminds me of Europa.” “What does,” Rachel asked searching for clarification. “The secret new color that Tom and Chuck created,” came the devoted response. As it is with many of our newer colors, it was the result of a future Anderson Player’s query that had led to its initial creation. “It looks a lot like the surface of Europa,” Roy reiterated. “You are speaking of the smallest of Jupiter’s four planet-sized moons discovered by Galileo Galilei the famous astronomer, I assume?” Laurie queried knowingly. “Of course.” During expeditions of this nature Tom always encourages free association. “Its distinctively bluish surface is the result of ice—you know frozen water,” Roy illuminated. “Water somewhere else in our solar system other than earth, that is amazing,” Bruce responded. “Could that mean that life exists there also?”

“We can’t just call the new color Europa though, that is far too obscure,” Eric observed. Chuck spoke, “Let’s call it Arctic Blue since it has an icy-blue quality and is reminiscent of Europa and we are all here together in the Arctic.” Tom smiled approvingly as Dave asked, “Yea, but what color is ice and snow anyway?” Charles continued, “I always thought they were white.”

Thankfully Professor Trembahr, from last week’s Guitar of the Week, had accompanied us on this latest research trip. Along with his expertise concerning vintage instruments and his affiliation with Outdoor Wilderness Equipment, he also heads up a scientific team engaged in the study of photon refractory research. He explained, “What color is water? Pour it into a glass and look closely, it appears to be clear. However, a trip into space reveals a predominately blue planet. The reality is that pure water and ice actually are pale blue in color. This is not due to light scattering—which accounts for blueness of the sky. Water owes its inherent blueness to a selective absorption in the long, red end of the visible spectrum. At its surface, snow and ice present us with a uniformly white appearance. This is because most of the visible light striking the snow or ice surface is reflected back unaltered and uninvolved with the majority of the underlying mass. It is not until light penetrates the ice or passes through approximately one meter of water that the blue coloration becomes visible. It is at this distance that we begin to detect that the photons emerging from a snow layer tend to be made up of more blue light.”

Chuck, not normally very tactile, hugged the Professor and dubbed the official name of this new blue color—Arctic Blue! At the risk of turning our own shades of blue, we all agreed and retreated to the warmth of our Anderson triple-tiered igloo.

In honor of its introductory appearance on planet Earth (or Europa for that matter), Anderson Arctic Blue dramatically expresses itself on the body surfaces of this Hollow Drop Top Classic. One strum tells you that this hollow-chambered instrument vividly recalls its alder-based inheritance as it injects life into the multitude of single coil permutations unhesitatingly available—not to mention a crushingly musical H2+ humbucker that can also be split to form an unprecedented alliance with the other single coil sized units on board. Keeping the outer fringes of its bountiful bandwidth regulated is a solid maple neck, imperceptibly protected by a woody-feeling satin finish. The small/medium feel of our extremely popular +.030 T/A Standard backshape and lighting fast stainless steel frets welcomes your hand to a new level—playing has never felt quite this good!

This first-every Arctic Blue, Anderson instrument now begins a journey of its own to Wildwood Guitars in Louisville, Colorado—a location much nearer the Arctic Circle than our California facility can offer. It is from here, they say, that the Northern Lights can be seen and Europa with only binoculars but it is also a place where the wonderful, caring and extremely knowledgeable people of Wildwood Guitars will welcome, embrace and celebrate the coming of Arctic Blue.